Rocky start to academic year at north schools
At least 2 million learners were said to have returned to school this week.
The 2021 academic year got off to a rocky start as parents, unhappy with where the education department placed their children, protested outside several schools in the north of Pretoria this week.
While most parents were busy dropping off their kids for the first day of school on Monday, these parents descended upon Hoërskool Akasia, Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz and Laerskool Akasia to have their grievances heard.
One such parent, Meshack Malaza, told Rekord that many children in Akasia have been placed in schools 30km away from where they live.
Another parent, Thulane Mbuyane, said he joined the other parents because his daughter had been accepted to Hoërskool Hercules even though they lived in the Dorandia area.
“I bought my property taking into consideration which schools are close to where we stay,” he said.
“Previously, I could stand at my front gate and watch my daughter walk to her school.”
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Mbuyane said his daughter should have been admitted instead to a local high school that was much closer to their home.
Since the protests, a well-placed source told Rekord that following lengthy deliberations by a group of parents and the leadership at Laerskool and Hoërskool Akasia, concessions were made and the schools committed to admitting more learners.
On the day that the Gauteng education department welcomed at least two million learners returning to class, the department spoke only of its “challenges” in the west district.
“We are proud that when learners returned to class today, they found our classrooms ready, our furniture ready, our textbooks ready, stationery ready and they found our teachers in class,” MEC Panyaza Lesufi said.
Lesufi, however, said he was concerned about 3 000 learners who did not return to school in 2021 due to Covid-19 fears.
“Districts across the province would consolidate the current attendance numbers and compare them to the same period in the previous year, to verify the accuracy of the number of learners who might have dropped out.”
Lesufi said the department had made progress with the placement of learners even though there were incidents where parents demonstrated over the placement of their children.
“A total of 221 271 grade 1 and 8 applicants have been placed. We are working tirelessly to place the remaining 1 004 applicants.”
These remaining applicants represented only 0.45% of all applicants.
When asked about the demonstrations at the north schools, Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona directed Rekord to the MEC’s previous comments on learner placement.
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